LONDON, Ont. - The Ryerson Rams' hard-fought effort failed to reflect the scoreboard on Saturday afternoon, falling 5-2 to the Western Mustangs in game two of the OUA quarter-final. Ryerson will head back to home ice Sunday night for a winner-take-all game three. 

The Rams put up 45 shots on goal while allowing 37 for Western. Devon Paliani (LaSalle, Ont.) opened the scoring under two minutes into the game while Mathew Santos (Toronto) added a goal. Meanwhile, Mustang Sean Montgomery scored twice and Ethan Szypula added two assists. In net, Garrett Forrest (Ashburn, Va.) showed no signs of fatigue, keeping the Rams in it all game. 

The Rams' special teams suffered, allowing three power play goals against and going 1-for-5 on the man-advantage. Ryerson finished with 16 penalty minutes while Western collected 14 minutes themselves. 

The opening half of the first saw both squads net a pair of goals. The Rams struck first thanks to two strong back-to-back shifts by Paliani. After drawing a boarding call, Paliani won a faceoff back to Gregory DiTomaso (Etobicoke, Ont.), who slid it to Matt Mistele (Whitby, Ont.). Just ten seconds after the penalty call, Paliani deflected Mistele's feed to make it 1-0 less than two minutes in. 

Despite Ryerson's early goal momentum, Western tied things up on the power play about five minutes later. Winger Anthony Stefano got his shot through a screened Forrest on the play from the faceoff circle. 

Some puck luck determined the rest of the frame. A minute after Stefano's marker, a bouncing puck in the slot led to defenceman Zach Core floating it past Forrest. Western's 2-1 lead marked the Rams' first deficit all playoffs, and Forrest's most goals allowed throughout his first three games. 

Two minutes after Core's goal, Santos struck on a misplay by Western's Luke Peressini in net. After Peressini mishandled the puck, Santos had no trouble tucking in a wraparound to tie things back up.

After some coincidental penalty calls, an Andrew Mullen (Toronto) tripping call led to a costly Western power play. On their fourth trip out in the opening twenty, some puck movement left the sluggish penalty kill unit out of position for Mustang Sean Montgomery, who fired in a shot to make it 3-2 after twenty. 

Western hardly touched the puck for the first half of the second, but were able to outlast the Rams' efforts, including another power play. The Rams' pressure cumulated in an extended cycle started by Hayden McCool (Whitby, Ont.) in his return from injury. 

Forrest swallowed a deflection by Stefano late in the period, and the score stayed locked at 3-2 through forty. Meanwhile, the Rams put up 17 shots in the second alone while maintaining a 28-21 shot advantage. 

The Rams put up another 17 shots in the third, but failed to cash in. DiTomaso was left looking skyward after ringing a backhander off the post with the Rams down a goal. 

Midway through the period, a rush by Western's Sproviero caught the untested Forrest off-guard to increase their lead to two. Just two minutes later on another man-advantage, Montgomery tipped one past Forrest into the demoralized Rams net. 

Last week, Jared Walsh (Toronto) spoke to the comforts of home ice. "You don't have to sit on the bus for however long to get to a rink. It's your home rink, your home ice, your own room, so it's really comfortable coming in here." 

The Rams return to Mattamy Home Ice on Sunday night, with puck drop for game three set at 7:15 p.m.